Category Archives: Power-Supplies

A Power Transistor which is having a drop of 4 Volts across it and passing 3 amps thru it, may dissipate around 12 Watts of Heat, This is the problem in Series Regulators. While a Saturated Transistor or Mosfet with 1 Volts across and 3 Amps Thru will be just 3 Watts. But then a fully on transistor or mosfet cannot be controlled or regulated, for that we turn it ON and OFF very fast so that the right amount of current or voltage is delivered.

The way this is done is PWM – Pulse Width Modulation. In this the mosfet or transistor is switched ON-OFF at say 100 kHz, but the ON duration is varied to control the output. The longer the duration of ON time more energy or punch is transferred. Switching losses will be present depending on how fast the rise and fall times of the pulses are.

The Pulsed AC or Chopped DC can be smoothed to the Average with Inductors and Capacitors. The reactive pulses of the Inductor has to be absorbed by a Schottky Rectifier 1N5817 — 20V-1A fast switching diode with low switching losses.

This circuit is derived from an application note of LM2575, It is a Power Switching Regulator from National Semiconductor The details are here LM2575

The Circuit below is a paper design and not tested. It can be used for education and information, this can help you make your own design. Please do not just wire it up and expect it to work.

Now let me see if i can explain the circuit, This is a regulated AC power supply. This circuit uses the Mosfet to turn off when voltage goes beyond a reference point. That means it just chops the Sine wave above a point, that also implies that the output may not be pure sine and may have harmonics. The Transformer if well designed may smoothen the chops. Even a Series Inductor or Resonant Circuits may reduce harmonics.

The opto coupler 4N50 Provides isolation and good Current Transfer Ratio. That may mean you may not get a shock and that even a small current signal in Opto-LED will give a saturated or Low Impedance in Opto-Transistor. The Mosfet is used like a Impedance Control switch turned On-Off by Opto. The Optocoupler diode is controlled by the Opamps which work Closed loop. The transformer output is compared with reference to drive opto-led.

This Circuit is based on Teledyne Solid State data book application note. They may not be making these parts anymore but they are available from others.